The Nigerian Federal Government has made a call to state governments, urging them to include provisions for adolescent health initiatives in their annual budgets to promote overall family well-being.
Dr. John Ovuoraye, who heads the Gender, Adolescent, School, and Elderly Division at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, emphasized this directive during a recent summit organized by the Society for Family Health for its A360 project.
Dr. Ovuoraye highlighted the funding obstacles facing sexual and reproductive health programs for adolescents in Nigeria and stressed the importance of both federal and state governments giving priority to such initiatives.
He emphasized the significance of having a specific budget allocation for these interventions at the federal level and encouraged state governments to follow suit to ensure that adolescent health services are readily available to all individuals.
Furthermore, Dr. Ovuoraye underscored the government’s objective of achieving universal health coverage by eliminating out-of-pocket expenses for sexual and reproductive health services. This involves making healthcare facilities easily accessible in all communities to reduce transportation costs.
He mentioned the government’s strategy of pooling resources from various stakeholders to facilitate effective project implementation and highlighted the Minister of Health’s commitment to adolescent health interventions, signed at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2023.
During the summit, Dr. Omokhudu Idogho, Managing Director of SFH, discussed the accomplishments of the A360 project in addressing barriers related to modern contraception for adolescent girls. The project aims to contribute to Nigeria’s target of achieving a 27% Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate by 2030.
Since its inception, the A360 project has significantly expanded youth-focused healthcare services to numerous primary health centers in targeted states, benefiting a substantial portion of the population in those areas.
Additionally, the project has provided training to over 1,837 healthcare providers in Youth-Friendly Health Services, contraceptive technologies, and the Counselling for Choice strategy, leading to a significant number of new contraceptive users.
Furthermore , over 264,626 adolescents continue to use contraception, addressing one of the main challenges of discontinuation.
Idogho emphasized the success of male Interpersonal Communication Agents in community mobilization, reaching 662,947 husbands of young married adolescents with adolescent sexual and reproductive health messages.
“This strategy significantly contributes to the new adopters recorded,” he noted.
The A360 project, operating in Jigawa, Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Osun, Ogun, and Oyo states, has economically empowered 153,388 girls, trained youth-friendly healthcare providers, and provided comprehensive counseling to 742,929 girls, resulting in 625,929 new contraceptive adopters, with a 42% continuation rate.
A recent summit attended by top officials, including the Federal Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary (represented by Dr. Binyerem Ukaire), state health commissioners, and executive secretaries from state primary health care boards, highlighted the project’s achievements.
